Cutter blade for producing helical vegetable strips

ABSTRACT

A cutter for cutting helical vegetable strips comprising a circular disk-like plate having an upstream surface and an axis of rotation. The cutter has a knife blade extending radially from the axis of rotation, the blade edge being axially displaced from the upstream surface. The cutter also includes a plurality of slitter blades spaced apart and located at different distances from the axis of rotation and extending substantially perpendicular to the upstream surface. The slitter blades have different lengths and, therefore, extend to different heights above the upstream surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This patent application relates generally to an apparatus for massproducing helical vegetable strips, and specifically to a rotatingcutter used on such an apparatus. French fried potatoes and othervegetables of generally spiral or helical shape have become increasinglypopular. Consumers like them because of their interesting appearance,and they are appealing to institutional food providers and restaurateursbecause a given volume of french fries has more plate coverage when theyare of helical shape.

Systems for cutting helical french fries are currently available in themarketplace. The cutters in many of the systems are disk-like in nature;that is, the cutter which slices the potatoes or other vegetables intohelical strips is generally a substantially flat or helical circularplate having a knife blade or “slabber blade” extending from the axis ofrotation to the periphery of the disk. Mounted on the upstream face ofthe disk is a plurality of slitter blades. The slitter blades arelocated at different radii and sometimes are spaced with a radial pitchto one another. In the prior art, each of the slitter blades hassubstantially the same length. Therefore, each slitter blade extendsapproximately the same distance from the upstream face of the disk.

The previously described rotating cutters are used in conjunction withvarious feed systems to feed whole potatoes into the rotating cutter.One such feeding means is a hydraulic feed system. In such a system,potatoes are placed in a hydraulic medium which is pumped through aconduit. The outlet of the conduit is positioned to be in alignment withthe rotating cutter. The potatoes are transported to the rotating cutterby the hydraulic medium.

The slitter blades determine the width of each helical potato strip tobe cut. The slabber blade then cuts the thickness of each helical strip.The length of the helical strip is controlled by the length of the wholepotato. Preferably, the slabber blade cuts a continuous helical stripthe entire length of the potato.

One problem experienced with this type of system is ensuring that all ofthe potato is cut into helical strips. If the potato is not fully cutinto helical strips, the uncut portion is scrap. The scrap potato iscommonly referred to in the industry as a “butt end.” Butt ends comefrom the portion of the potato that comes in contact with the cutterfirst. The primary cause of butt ends is the radial spacing of theslitter blades. As the potato is fed into the cutter at a high rate ofspeed, the slabber blade begins to cut the end of the potato,transversely to the longitudinal axis of the potato, before the slitterblades have had an opportunity to score the potato concentrically aroundthe longitudinal axis. Because the innermost slitter blade is radiallyspaced the farthest away from the cutting edge of the slitter blade, itmay not contact the potato until after the slabber blade has beguncutting the potato. The result is a butt end. In addition to beingscrap, butt ends also tend to jam in the cutter and cause the yield ofcut potatoes to be unnecessarily low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an important object of the invention to increase theyield of helical potato strips or other vegetable strips.

It is another object of the invention to reduce the number of butt endsof potatoes while cutting helical strips.

It is another object of the invention to reduce the potential forjamming potatoes or other vegetables in the cutter.

In summary, there is provided a cutter comprising a generally circularbody which has a radial slit therein defining a pair of axially spacedcutting edges, a plurality of slitter blades which are radially spacedfrom each other and which extend axially from the face of the body, atleast two of the slitter blades having different lengths.

The invention consists of certain novel features and a combination ofparts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and particular pointed out in the appended claims, it beingunderstood that various changes in the details may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of thepresent invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the invention, thereis illustrated in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodimentthereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection withthe following description, the invention, its construction andoperation, and many of its advantages should be readily understood andappreciated.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cutter for producing helical potato stripsincorporating the features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a section view taken along the line 2—2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side view of another embodiment of a cutter for producinghelical vegetable strips incorporating the features of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of another embodiment of a cutter for producinghelical vegetable strips incorporating the features of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is depicted a cutter 20 for cuttingpotatoes into generally helical shaped strips which cutter incorporatesthe features of the present invention. Cutter 20 comprises a circularbody 21 having a plurality of slots 22 in its periphery, defining aplurality of radial projections 23. Body 21 is slit radially to producea pair of edges 24 and 25 which are substantially parallel and axiallydisplaced. The leading edge 25 is sharpened to create a slabber blade.In one embodiment of the present invention, body 21 had a substantiallyflat first part extending approximately 225° between edge 24 and phantomline 29 and a raised second part extending approximately 135° betweenedge 25 and phantom line 29. The raised second part forms the axiallydisplaced edge 25. In another embodiment, body 21 was a right helicoidbeginning at edge 25 and terminating at edge 24 and having asubstantially uniform pitch therebetween.

In either embodiment, a quill 27 projects axially from the center ofbody 21. Cutter 20 rotates counterclockwise, as viewed in FIG. 1. In theembodiment shown, mounted on the upstream surface 28 of cutter 20 arefour slitter blades 26 a, b, c, and d. Blade 26 a, is innermost andleads blade 26 b. Blade 26 c is next and trails blade 26 b. Blade 26 dis outermost and trails blade 26 c. In one operative embodiment, theangles between edge 24 and the mid points of blades 26 a, b, c and dwere respectively about 49°, 30°, 18° and 9°. In a particular embodiment(FIG. 4), blade 26 a extends from surface 28 a distance 30 ofapproximately 0.395 inch, blade 26 b extends above surface 28 a distance31 of approximately 0.385 inch, and blades 26 c and 26 d are the samelength, extending above surface 28 a distance 32 of approximately 0.365inch.

In another embodiment (FIG. 5) of the present invention, blades 26 a and26 b had the same length, and blades 26 c and 26 d had the same length,but shorter than that of blades 26 a and 26 b. Specifically, each ofblades 26 a and b had a length of 0.395 inch and each of blades 26 c and26 d had a length of 0.365 inch.

This construction increases the yield of cutter 20 by reducing scrappieces, such as butt ends. In operation, a potato is propelled intocutter 20 by a feed means (not shown). As the potato approaches cutter20, it first contacts quill 27 which keeps the potato aligned. The pointof slitter blade 26 a first makes contact with the from end of thepotato during the first rotation of cutter 20, because of its longerlength, in the first embodiment, and blade 26 a begins scoring orcutting the potato concentrically about the longitudinal axis of thepotato forming slits or grooves of predetermined width in the potatosurface. The blade 26 b starts cutting the potato. Finally, blades 26 cand 26 d start to cut. As the potato continues to be fed into cutter 20,it contacts edge 25 which begins cutting the potato transversely to thelongitudinal axis of the potato, thereby, forming a helical strip. Itwill be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that the number ofslitter blades may vary to include more or less than four as aparticular application may require. In addition, the length of theslitter blades may vary as required by a particular application.

What has been described therefore is an improved cutter for cuttingvegetables into helical strips incorporating slitter blades havingvarying heights. The yield of potatoes cut into helical strips issubstantially increased by reducing non-helical potatoes slices, such asbutt ends, by 95% or more.

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention isdefined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A rotating cutter for cutting helical vegetablestrips comprising: (a) a disk-shaped body having an upstream surface andan axis of rotation; (b) a knife blade extending radially from the axisof rotation and being axially displaced from said upstream surface; (c)a plurality of slitter blades extending substantially perpendicular tosaid upstream surface; (d) said slitter blades being spaced apart fromone another and located at different distances from the axis ofrotation; (e) at least two of said slitter blades having differentlengths with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation.2. The cutter of claim 1, wherein at least three of said slitter bladeshave different lengths.
 3. The cutter of claim 1, wherein a differencein length between at least two of said slitter blades is approximately0.010 inches.
 4. The cutter of claim 1, wherein the disk-shaped body hasa leading edge and a trailing edge, and the disk-shaped body comprises asubstantially flat first portion extending approximately 225° from thetrailing edge and a raised second portion extending approximately 135°from the leading edge.
 5. The cutter of claim 1, wherein the peripheryof said disk-like disc-shaped body is substantially helical.
 6. Thecutter of claim 5, wherein said periphery has a substantially uniformpitch.
 7. The cutter of claim 1, wherein said plurality of slitterblades includes an innermost slitter blade, an outermost slitter bladeand an intermediate slitter blade.
 8. The cutter of claim 7, wherein theinnermost slitter blade is the longest.
 9. The cutter of claim 8,wherein said outermost slitter blade and said intermediate slitter bladehave the same length.
 10. The cutter of claim 8, wherein the distancebetween said innermost blade and said knife blade is smaller than thedistance between said knife blade and said outermost blade.
 11. Thecutter of claim 7, wherein said innermost slitter blade and saidintermediate slitter blade have the same length.
 12. The cutter of claim7, wherein said slitter blade lengths progressively decrease from saidinnermost slitter blade to said outermost slitter blade.
 13. The cutterof claim 12, wherein the difference in length between each said slitterblade is approximately 0.010 inches.
 14. The cutter of claim 1, whereinsaid plurality of slitter blades includes an innermost slitter blade, anoutermost slitter blade, an intermediate slitter blade adjacent theinnermost slitter blade, and an intermediate slitter blade adjacent theoutermost slitter blade.
 15. The cutter of claim 14, wherein saidinnermost slitter blade and said intermediate slitter blade adjacent theinnermost slitter blade have the same length.
 16. The cutter of claim14, wherein said outermost slitter blade and said intermediate slitterblade adjacent said outermost slitter blade have the same length. 17.The cutter of claim 14, wherein the length of said intermediate slitterblade adjacent said innermost slitter blade is less than the length ofsaid innermost slitter blade but greater than the length of saidintermediate slitter blade adjacent said outermost slitter blade. 18.The cutter of claim 17, wherein the length of said innermost slitterblade is approximately 0.395 inch.
 19. The cutter of claim 17, whereinthe length of said intermediate slitter blade adjacent said innermostslitter blade is approximately 0.385 inch.
 20. The cutter of claim 17,wherein the length of said intermediate slitter blade adjacent saidoutermost slitter blade is approximately 0.365 inches.
 21. The cutter ofclaim 1, wherein at least one of said slitter blades is located adifferent distance from said knife blade than another of said blades.